This invention relates generally to apparatuses for securing or locking wheels, and particularly to apparatuses for securing the steering wheels of automotive vehicles.
Automobiles ordinarily are equipped with means for inhibiting their unauthorized use. Usually these means are in the forms of door locks and locks operatively associated with the engine starter that requires the use of a key to complete an ignition circuit. Though these devices do offer a substantial degree of security, they may be circumvented by determined thiefs as by the breaking of door windows and the short circuiting of the ignition circuit locks.
In an effort to provide an added measure of security, apparatuses have also heretofore been devised for securing the vehicle steering wheels. Exemplary of these are those devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,065,103, 1,112,782, 1,146,345, 1,437,480, 1,484,639, 1,548,636, 1,549,460, 1,552,586 and 1,642,325. These devices have typically provided means for either inhibiting rotary movement of the steering wheel or in preventing movements of the steering wheels from rotating their associated steering shafts. This is commonly accomplished with devices that control the meshing of gears mounted to the wheel and shaft or by requiring the attachment of a coupling mechanism in order to operatively associate the wheel with the shaft. These devices however have not found wide acceptance due to their complexity of design and operation. The present invention is therefore directed to the provision of an apparatus for securing wheels which is of relatively simple and economic construction, which may be readily provided on existing wheels, and which can be used in a reliable and simplistic manner.